Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Okay, so I'll eat my words. I was dreaming of a green Christmas here in the northwest and we actually got a white one. It snowed in Portland on Christmas! I remember every Christmas as a kid wishing that it would snow, so today's blanket of white was nostalgic and happy.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Clickety-clackin' a stack of buckets and pans to entertain the sidewalk crowd of Christmas shoppers near Pioneer Square. Poor guy had to grab attention away from the Star Wars Storm Troopers across the street, a chrome-painted mime on one corner, and a laddie with bagpipes on the other. How's a guy supposed to make a living with competition like that? Or maybe I'm in the wrong business. I do have a dusty clarinet under the bed. Maybe if I did a street gig people would pay me to stop playing...

A tuba top waits for its owner to assemble him and join the 200 or so horn players in the annual Tuba Christmas concert on Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. A quirky bit of fun, but powerful and moving at times too.

Monday, December 17, 2007

The Grinch has nothing on Darth Vader--it seems even the Dark Side of the Force has softened up with some Christmas Spirit. In what has to be one of the more surreal sights of my life, a half dozen Star Wars Storm Troopers stood outside Macy's this weekend ringing cutsey little bells to raise funds for the Salvation Army.